The transposition of the framework Directive, which lays down in outline the general obligations and responsibilities of employers and workers in health and safety matters, has sparked off extensive national debates on arrangements for protecting health and safety at work. It has also placed the spotlight on major disparities between existing preventive systems and the many limitations and problems of incorporating the provisions of Community law into national safety at work legislation.

The TUTB found that neither the national authorities nor the Community institutions were providing the information needed on such a crucial issue for the life and health of all Europe's workers. It was the first to initiate a detailed inventory of how prevention at the workplace is organised in the different European Union countries and to conduct an initial review of how the framework directive is being written into national law.